In a sports stadium, such as Candlestick Park of San Francisco, California, a playing field is surrounded by a concrete superstructure which contains seats to be occupied by spectators of the sport being played on the playing field. As in other stadiums around the country, Candlestick Park is located near land and water areas which give rise to the generation of wind currents. Such wind currents are known to change rapidly and erratically in velocity and direction. Moreover, such wind currents can have an adverse effect in many cases on the play of the game on the playing field of the stadium.
For instance, a baseball hit as a fly ball into the outfield of Candlestick Park is known to be subjected to high winds well above the playing field, and the fly ball will be substantially uncatchable or cannot be caught. This is because the erratic winds, in some cases, deflect the ball and carry it higher and deeper or, in other cases, carry it more shallow than the normal flight of the ball. The ball thus falls as a fair ball and the game suffers because the ball would ordinarily have been caught by an outfielder of average skill but for the presence of the winds.
Stadiums subject to such wind conditions typically in late afternoon or at night during summer months have greater difficulty attracting customers because of these cold, fog-driven winds. Modern baseball is played primarily at night to accommodate working fans and television schedules.
To avoid the problems of the type described, improvements to a stadium are needed to minimize the effects of erratic wind currents. The present invention provides a solution to such a need.
Prior disclosures in this field include the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
635,697 2,850,026 PA1 829,640 3,489,072 PA1 1,478,034 3,974,756 PA1 1,773,707 4,257,199 PA1 1,945,785